I Draw Stuff

Part 2 – Your Environment In the previous post (How To Break Creative Block Pt 1) we covered exercises, best practices, and materials to help you fight off creative block. Today I want to cover the place where you create. Whether it’s a studio, a house, an apartment, or refrigerator box in the alley, the place you create should be a haven for creative growth. Ever walk into an art gallery or a beautiful place and suddenly want to draw? That’s called inspiration my friends, and it can be a great weapon against Creative Block. As a visually creative person, we tend to be a bit voyeuristic. We see something that makes our spirit click and then have this weird thing that happens; suddenly our heart is racing, blood is pumping, our hands may shake, body temperature may rise as well. Ancient Greeks compared it to ecstasy because it feels a lot like the rush you get from intense physical attraction or being in love. Your brain becomes hyper alert from the rush and forgets its skill level and sends the message to the rest of you, “I can do that. Let’s do that!”. Suddenly you’re in a creative fervor. This happens out in the world a lot but you need to do it at home or in the studio too. You need to grow inspiration, cultivate it, farm it. So how do you farm inspiration? It seems so random to most. Well, first thing you need to do is fix your environment. The place where you create should make you want to create. Think of it as Feng Shui... read more

Several nights a week, I stream art live from my studio on Twitch (www.twitch.tv/kohseart). There’s a chat room where viewers can interact with moderators and other viewers, talk smack, tell jokes, stories, or ask questions. A lot of artists tune in and ask questions about art, inspiration, how to stay motivated, how to improve, or post their own work on my Discord Channel to get critiques. I love teaching and I love passing on what I’ve learned over the years to other artists. I especially love seeing what those artists do with that knowledge. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to start writing down some of the more frequently asked questions and their answers here so anyone can find it. Today’s topic: How to Break Creative Block. The idea of creative block is foreign to me. Not because I have some gland overfilled with creative hormones oozing out of every pore (although that would give me something to blame if I suddenly discover I’m in need of a shower. “Oh, don’t mind the smell. Inspiration just hit!”). Creative block is a foreign concept because I never stop creating. If I’m not drawing, I’m painting. If I’m not painting, I’m writing. If I can’t do any of that, I’m thinking about doing those things. If you want to be a creator, you need to create, and you need to keep creating. If you’ve ever hit a creative wall, you probably just made a snorting noise. So let’s start at the beginning. You suck. You’re looking at a blank sheet of paper... read more